Lawyers Prepare Stage for Lawsuit in Turnpike Shooting

By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

Published: May 9, 1998

Leading a team of lawyers known for winning O. J. Simpson's acquittal on murder charges, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. invited a crowd of reporters and television cameramen to his offices in TriBeCa yesterday to draw attention to the civil rights suit they are planning to file on behalf of three young men involved in last month's shooting by state troopers on the New Jersey Turnpike.

The former ''dream team'' members requested a meeting with Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and demanded assurances of an honest inquiry into the incident. Their new colleague, David G. Ironman of Staten Island, meanwhile, offered new details that he said further contradicted the police account of why the troopers fired 11 shots into the young men's van.

Among the details were Mr. Ironman's assertion that the young men had been traveling with the van's cruise control set at the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit when they were stopped by the troopers at about 11 P.M. on April 23. That conflicts with the official state police account that said the van had been speeding at 74 m.p.h.

Mr. Ironman also said the van's windows were not tinted, as the state police contended, but clear, giving the troopers an unobstructed view of the occupants.

Surrounded by parents and siblings of the three young men, Mr. Cochran and his colleagues, Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld, clearly sought to demonstrate their clients' solid family backgrounds. Each family member was introduced, and the lawyers even handed out a list that gave their names, occupations and family histories.

The lawyers said they planned to file a Federal civil rights lawsuit that would accuse the two state troopers of stopping the van solely based on the race of its occupants.

Mr. Cochran said people should be stopped for a clear reason, ''not based upon how they look or what somebody thinks about them.''

''And it's always brown and black, and in this car there was a black driver and brown passenger in the front seat, and very visible,'' he said.

That passenger, Danny Reyes, 20, of Queens, remains hospitalized in Camden with serious injuries to his right arm and torso. At the news conference, his mother, Ana Maria Reyes, angrily dismissed what she said were descriptions of her son and his companions as ''undereducated and unemployed'' by Col. Carl A. Williams, the State Police Superintendent.

''That is the reason why his troopers are the way they are,'' Ms. Reyes said, ''insensitive and racist.''

Mr. Scheck made the demand for a meeting with the Governor. ''Today,'' he said, ''we are calling on the Governor of the State of New Jersey, Christine Todd Whitman, and the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey to meet with us and provide us with assurances that this investigation will be conducted in a full and fair manner.''

Mr. Cochran, repeating the request, also criticized state officials for not apologizing to the young men who were shot at by the troopers.

Mr. Cochran said: ''No one from the State of New Jersey, no one from the Governor's office, no one from the state troopers' office has deigned to call the families or any of these young men and said, 'You know we're sorry. We're sorry you were shot on our turnpikes. You have been released. There are no charges.' Common decency would require that.''

Mrs. Whitman and the State Attorney General, Peter G. Verniero, both issued statements yesterday saying that they had already guaranteed a fair and thorough investigation into the matter. Both noted the appointment of a special prosecutor in the case and that evidence would be presented to a state grand jury rather than a grand jury in Mercer County where the shooting occurred.

Neither Mrs. Whitman nor Mr. Verniero would respond directly to the lawyers' demand for a meeting.

''Representatives of the State in their official capacity have already met with the victims or their representatives and have assured them that there will be a thorough investigation,'' the Governor's statement said.

In an interview, her spokesman, Pete McDonough, said: ''This is an ongoing investigation and it should not be played out in the media. It is a very serious situation.''

The Attorney General's office said that Mr. Verniero had not yet been contacted by Mr. Cochran or any other lawyers in the case about a meeting.

''We have taken rigorous steps to insure that the investigation of this matter is fair and complete in all respects,'' Mr. Verniero said through a spokesman, Paul Loriquet. ''Although I have not been contacted by the motorists or their families, I reiterate my commitment to all citizens of New Jersey, and indeed to everyone concerned here, that this investigation will be full and fair in all respects.''

But Mr. Ironman and the other lawyers expressed doubts, which they said were based in large part on the fact that aspects of the official state police version of the incident have since proved to be untrue. For example, the police account said that the troopers had used radar to detect the van's speed. It was later revealed that the police car was not equipped with radar.

Offering another new detail, Mr. Ironman said that air bags had not activated in either the van or the patrol car, indicating that any impact between the two vehicles could not have been with much force. According to the police account, the van went into reverse after being pulled over and struck the police car and a passing Honda before reversing direction again and ending up in a ditch.

And, offering a possible explanation for the van's reversal, Mr. Ironman said the driver, Keshon Moore, might have believed the car was in park when he lifted his foot from the brake and began to search for his wallet. As the van moved backward, the police said, it struck one of the troopers, prompting them to fire their weapons.

At the news conference yesterday, the lawyers spoke in dramatic tones about the implications of the case. ''We think that this is an important case, not only for the State of New Jersey, but for everybody in this country who is concerned about justice and fairness,'' Mr. Cochran said.

Photo: Joined by family members of three young men involved in last month's shooting by state troopers on the New Jersey Turnpike, the lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. spoke with reporters yesterday in Manhattan. (Vic DeLucia/The New York Times)